A Heroic Death
by ipodrocker16
Summary: Flynn Rider, thief extraordinaire, is about to perish in a cave. From drowning. With a girl with way too much blonde hair, a frying pan, and her creepy frog thingie. It's not exactly the perfect death. Or is it?


**Disclaimer: I don't own Tangled. Disney does. Because Disney owns EVERYTHING awesome. Ariel, DISNEYworld, TestTrack, Mickey The Epic Mouse, and of course, FLYNN FREAKING RIDER. Yeah, I'm jealous.**

**A/N: SO! I haven't written anything for this fandom before, so here's a very uninteresting backstory! I saw Tangled in theatres, yada yada yada. Then, I forgot about it. (Shame on me.) And then, my 7 year old sister got Tangled in Blu-Ray for Christmas last year! Then I forgot about it again. (Hence the even greater shame on me.) BUT THEN I BECAME OBSESSED WITH IT. QUICKLY. I've read nearly all of the completed fanfics for Tangled. And I was like, OH MY GOSH, I have to write something! So I put off my Pride and Prejudice stories momentarily to write this. PS: Flynn is sooo hard to write. Not even joking. Okay, REVIEW! Please! :)**

He was going to die.

Flynn Rider had always known that there was a large chance of him dying young. After all, thievery wasn't exactly the safest profession he could have chosen… There had been several occasions where while Flynn was falling asleep, he imagined his demise; while he was sleeping under a bridge, in a tent in the woods, at a barstool in the Snuggly Duckling, that one time where he had actually managed to sneak into the quarters of Corona's royal army and slept on the bunk right above the Captain of the guard without him even knowing… Flynn dunked his head underwater to shake himself out of his pleasant reverie.

In all those times, he had imagined a heroic death (by thieving standards) that would be remembered for years to pass; namely being shot while running from the guards, then able to defeat the guards while still in pain, then to say something amazing while some beautiful brunette was crouched over him crying, and manage one last Smolder and pick-up line before he died. Then the girl would go tell everyone who would listen how the world's most charismatic and handsome thief, Flynn Rider, had romantically flirted with her until the very end. His "heroic death" was slightly unrealistic, of course, but he liked to think that he would at least go out in style.

Not like this.

No, Flynn Rider was about to die from drowning. In a cave. With a girl with fifty gazillion feet of blonde hair, a frying pan, and her creepy frog thing. This was not exactly what he had imagined. But then again, what person in their right mind _would _imagine this? It was awful. After pathetically searching in the pitch-black water for a way out, he was forced to accept his fate. _The_ Flynn Rider, drowning to death. It was humiliating. His reputation would be ruined. But then again, so would he. So what did it really matter?

Flynn tried one more time to find a way out, before shaking his head in defeat. "It's no use. I can't see anything." He hated to admit it to Rapunzel, to admit that she was going to die before she even turned eighteen. For a moment, he felt rather sad, and ashamed. The girl had never left that ridiculous tower in her life, and the one time she did, his stupidity got her killed. He was ashamed of himself, for taking her to the Snuggly Duckling just so he could scare her away. If Flynn had just been a man and waited a day for his satchel, neither of them would be in this whole mess. He felt guilty for the first time in years.

Suddenly, Rapunzel dived under the water. _What the heck is Blondie doing? _Flynn thought frantically. He felt an urge of panic. She had never left that tower. He was one-hundred percent sure that she couldn't swim. It only occurred to him afterwards that since they were going to drown anyways, it really didn't matter. But the sudden protectiveness that he felt made him dive under and pull Rapunzel back up.

As he gently pulled the wet hair from her face, he said "Hey, there's no point. It's pitch-black down there." Rapunzel stared at him in horror for a moment, until she pulled away from his hands slowly. He sighed again, in complete defeat. They were going to die. All there was left to do was wait.

Rapunzel began to weep quietly. "This is all my fault. She was right, I never should have done this!" Flynn could only sit and sigh. Again.

There had been so many things that he was hoping to accomplish during his life: get rich, buy an island, get a castle, spend the rest of his days alone, surrounded by enormous piles of-

"I'm so… I'm so _sorry _Flynn!" The thief in question stared at her in disbelief. _She_ was sorry? Sweet Rapunzel, who had no part in their demise whatsoever? Flynn was shocked. How could a person be so selfless? She was about to drown, it was entirely _his_ fault, and _she _was apologizing to _him?_ Flynn was suddenly glad. He was glad that out of all the people in the world he could be spending his last minutes with, it was Rapunzel. For a moment, he felt something pull at his heartstrings. In that moment, Flynn Rider realized that he could easily fall in love with this girl. If they had had more time, Flynn knew that he would of.

But, he then realized, Flynn Rider didn't fall in love. Even if they had miraculously escaped, as long as he was Flynn Rider, he could never love anyone else. Flynn could never love Rapunzel. For some strange reason, that bothered him. He was not happy with the fact that he would die caring for nobody but himself. Flynn couldn't love. But…

"Eugene."

Did that really just happen? Did he really just tell her his name? The horrid name that his parents had given him? It must have been his imagination. He didn't really say that; he was about to _think_ that although Flynn Rider couldn't fall in love, Eugene Fitzherbert possibly could. There was no way that he had really said that. It was all just a figment of his imaginat-

"What?" Crap. He had said it. Quickly, Flynn thought of an easy way out of it; pretend that he hadn't said anything. ("What are you talking about, Blondie? I didn't say anything. The fact that we're about to die must be getting to your head.") He could be that insensitive. Flynn Rider was great at being insensitive. But a small part of his brain, the part that he had kept locked up for nearly ten years, since he was fourteen, thought of something else. He could tell her his name. Rider was shocked. What the heck was wrong with him? Sure, he was about to die. Sure, he had seriously contemplated telling Blondie. But there was no way on this earth that he would ever, ever, EVER tell anyone that-

"My real name is Eugene Fitzherbert. Someone might as well know." That was easier than he thought it would be. Now he just had to endure the teasing. He waited for it. For half of a second, he waited. Then, he was sure it was coming. Flynn saw her mouth move about to tease him. Then, she smiled.

Smiled? Why did she smile? Where was the laughter, the derision? It never came. Flynn had known that he would fall in love with Blondie if there had been more time. Flynn had also known that he couldn't fall in love as Flynn Rider. Flynn Rider didn't do love. But Eugene Fitzherbert did.

So was that it? Was he Eugene now that he was about to die? The irony: being born Eugene, becoming Flynn, and then becoming Eugene again. In Flynn's subconscious, he knew that he wasn't fully Eugene. A large part of him was still Flynn. But what did it matter? The part of him that was Eugene was large enough to love. To love Rapunzel, more specifically. He smiled softly; he was falling in love with her. It was too late to do anything about it, but it was nice to know. It was nice to know that he was capable of love. Flynn was content to know that he could finally say that he fell in love before he died. And he was happier than ever that he was dying with Rapunzel. The woman he could have loved. Flynn nearly opened his mouth to tell her; after all, what harm could it do? All he had to say was, 'Rapunzel, I just wanted you to know that I was falling in love with you.' That was all it took. He began to open his mouth to speak, when Rapunzel unknowingly interrupted.

"I have magic hair that glows when I sing."

Wait, what?

**A/N: Is this good? Not so good? I personally think it's good... But do you? THAT, is the question. So ANSWER IT IN A REVIEW! (Preferably with the answer good...) :) I LOVE reviewers. Just saying. *Wink wink***


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